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Education
That education is vital part of our nation's future is without doubt. It is clear that in order to remain competitive economically, we need an educated populace. The methods of achieving the necessary level of education need to be reexamined. However, how we define education, and perhaps more importantly, how the political system interacts with education is of primary interest. Each section below covers a significant part of the U.S. education system. Each section links to a discussion page which contains (or will contain) a brief history and set of references on the topic. Contributors are encouraged to review these facts and use sources to offer arguments in favor of their position on the topic. Among the issues: =U.S. Public Education= Historical Context *Precedent for Public Education for All *Jefferson and other Revolution-era *US and state Constitutions *Horace Mann - As secretary of the newly created Massachusetts board of education, Mann set many precedents relevant to U.S. public and secular education. *Desegregation *A Nation at Risk (1983) - This report was the result of an 18 month study of U.S. public education, commissioned by the Secretary of Education. While it is one of many, it serves as a primary example of the country's awareness of an education crisis. As the commission notes in its introduction: "If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war. As it stands, we have allowed this to happen to ourselves." Issue: Do we have the right to free education? Does this include pre-school? university? * Some Goals of Elementary Education * Some Goals of Secondary Education Issue: Education and Politics Education is often listed as one of the top issues among voters, but it rarely decides elections. How does education impact politics and the political parties? Grassroots political movements are often connected to education as well. The charter school and homeschool movements are both examples. How can mass political support be effective versus the bureaucracy of public education? Issue: How should public schools be funded? Overview of Education Funding *Some general statistics on funding: **Educational institutions in the U.S. spent over $826 billion on education in 2003. About 62% was on elementary and secondary education, 38% on higher education. The total represents 7.5% of total GDP, a percentage which has been increasing steadily since the statistics begin in 1949. http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d05/tables/dt05_025.asp **In 2002-03, public schools spent an average of $9299 per pupil. The District of Columbia spent the most ($14,419), while Utah spent the least ($5969). (NOTE: Figures include capital and interest costs. For more detail, follow the link.)http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d05/tables/dt05_164.asp **For elementary and secondary public schools, the federal government contributes 8.5% of the total spending, states contribute 48.7%, and local governments 42.8%. http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d05/tables/dt05_152.asp This number can vary significantly by locality and even by school, since federal funds primarily support students who live in poverty, and because every state has a different funding formula. **Link to avg distribution of spending – salaries, capital, etc. (NCES) *Summary of recent court cases on redistribution of funds Revenue Sources: Taxes, Lotteries, Bonds, and Redistribution Enter this section to discuss issues related to how schools raise funds. Property and sales tax, lotteries, and bond issues often raise controversy on local ballots. Is the way that the federal government funds schools appropriate? What about funding for students with disabilities? How should states distribute the money - does it cost the same to educate every child? Distribution of Education Funds *Vouchers and school choice *65% rule – Should 65% of all education funds be spent directly at the school level? *Supplemental Education Services – When schools fail, how should government support remediation? Philanthropy and Education *Local Education Agencies *Major philanthropic efforts (Gates, etc.) Issue: Federal Regulation of Education *Overview of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act **Title I *No Child Left Behind *Other federal rules: IDEA, Title IX, etc. *Federal support of higher education **Federal student aid Issue: Management of Schools *Public School Districts **Overview of school district – how many are there, avg size, etc. **School boards – elected or appointed **Superintendent – hiring policy? **Mayoral control as current trend in urban centers *Principals **Hiring/Firing of principals **Principals with full control of schools **Principal shortages – New Leaders for New Schools, etc. *Teachers **Teacher Compensation **Unions **Teacher preparation ***Schools of Ed ***Teach for America and related programs *Other Management Issues ** Year Round Schooling ** Community Schools Emerging Management Structures: Charters, Pilots *Charter Schools *Pilot Schools – Like charters, but within district control. E.g., Boston. *Public support of Homeschooling Issue: Politics of Teaching and Learning *Standardized testing *Curriculum **Reading – Phonics v. Whole **Math – Constructive vs. “back to basics” **Science (For evolution, see Religion in School section below) – Inquiry methods, facts and details * High Schools Issue: Religion in School *Prayer in school *Evolution v. Creationism =Private Schools= Homeschooling =International Education= ---- =Old Outline= =Issues facing Public Education= Every child should have access to the level of education necessary to allow them to actively contribute to society through work and/or volunteering and to maintain life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Below are some of the issues facing education today: * Public Education Standards * The Myth of the Failure of public education * Education as a Personal Goal * Teaching lab grant Category:Education =Perspectives= (Share your feedback about this section's format/content on the discussion page!) As a way of starting a deeper conversation around Education, please post your "Perspective" below. This will give us a clear structure for looking at all the diverse and interesting perspectives we all hold. Each Perspective should be formatted as follows: "I am _______, and I believe _______." EXAMPLE: "I am a student, and I believe we should have more money for music in our schools." EXAMPLE: "I am a businessman, and I believe the government should give out vouchers for private school." EXAMPLE: "I am a teacher, and I think teachers need to be paid more, trained better, and given more support." Let's keep this civil, thoughtful and friendly... and have fun! Please consider adding your perspective as an issue, above. What's YOUR perspective? Remember to "sign" your comment with four tildes :: * I am a university faculty member. I think the biggest problem with public education is the lack of competition. It's not funding (we spend more per student than any other industrialized nation by far). It's no secret that the key to high quality and low prices is competition. Right now, we have a non-competitive system. We should allow parents (not bureaucrats) to decide which school to send their students to, and schools should be allowed to compete for the best students (this is similar to the system in Japan and in Europe). Education subsidies should be given to parents to use at any school (public or private). Subsidies should not be allowed to be used at religious-affilitated schools, unless they provide a secular education open to all students of any faith. 66.32.47.112 22:22, 9 July 2006 (UTC) :: *I am an undergraduate student at the University of South Florida and I believe that we should broaden the possibilities of our little budding scientists, philosophers, medical students, computer scientists, etc. (any and all fields open to advancement) by placing increasingly less weight on numbers (eg. GPA's and Standardized tests) and open up possibilities to our youth to apply themselves in going beyond what any such number can merit them. I certainly know that there are undergraduate students and occasionally (albeit, extraordinarily rarely) high school students who have published fantastic papers and works of independent (or even dependent or collaborative) research in refereed journals and other media of published literature. Let us not forget the purpose of education! Similarily one can easily point to a young student with excellent such numbers and yet knows nothing else (it is a pathetic sight to watch young people strive for the 'higher grade' and completely miss the purpose of their education, to truly understand what is attemptedly being conveyed to them). It is an endless pool of trivia to our "greatest of students"! GPA's and Standardized Test scores will soon long be forgotten, but how will one render oneself a well-constituted contributor to the advancement of knowledge and the human race in general if not through the application of ones knowledge? ..to allow students to take full advantage and harness their motivation to truly learn, to stop "satisfying" the poor requirements and methods of formal education and overcome it, to allow those who have the motivation and willingness to go beyond, to manifest genius in oneself! ...Lastly I would like to say that Wikipedia has certainly taken a step ahead in the way our young people (and indeed, everyone!) acquire information and attempt to truly learn by harnessing their own motivation to understand the world. :: *I'm a public educator, and education presents a very complex system resistant to change, and certainly hardened against simple initiatives and reform programs. It's often used as a whipping post by politicians looking to score easy political points. Highly qualified teachers, with good pay and small class size are a good start. I'm also concerned about the role of educational unions. While they protect employees, I don't see them fighting to push their members to be better teachers - instead I see them fighting for more days off, more pay, fighting for 3 or 4 minutes of planning time, etc. I'm not saying unions are bad, by the way, I just don't see them pushing members to be better. Bmackenty 11:56, 7 July 2006 (UTC) :: *I'm a life coach, and I believe that the federal government should dedicate more funds to education. :: *I'm a future parent and present uncle, and I think that when the government has primary responsibility for teaching children, it will tend to teach the children to be uncritical of politicians and maintain the status quo. :: *I'm a high school student. I think that the government should focus on giving more funds to areas with low graduation rates and low test scores, so as to give those students more educational opportunities to succeed. :: *I am a medical student with a elementary age child and a baby. I am a strong believer that one of the fundamental missions of our government (both federal and state) is to educate our citizenry. This is one of the main reasons why we should pay taxes. We all should contribute to ensure that our country remains a leader in education. In contrast to the views of many teachers and local school boards, I think that we should have strong national standards and national testing with uniform exams so that there cannot be local artificial manipulation of scores and achievement. While we should always cultivate artistic talents in children with school offerings like drama, music and art, we cannot ignore the fundamental need to produce educated students who can read complex materials, who can write clearly and succintly and who understand math and science. But goals like these require money. And that has to come from taxpayers. Nick 22:28, 6 July 2006 (UTC) :: *I am a high school student. I believe the current educational system creates a lack of competition resulting in a backwards educational system. Students options for vocational training is limited, students with special needs are not having those needs met and gifted students do not have the oppurtunity to be challenged. I beleive the remedy is to shut down all public schools and divide equally their allocated funds among all citizens with childrens as an "educational voucher" with which enrollement any of the now numerous by neccesity private schools could be funded. Such an endeavour would create a competitive marketplace in which schools competed for potential students. :: *I am a son of an elementary special education teacher, and I am confused why she cannot get work merely because she has a MS in Special Education. Her graduate degree and years of teaching experience mean that school districts must pay her more, but when principals have tight budgets they'll take young teachers with only undergraduate educations and no teaching experience. I appreciate the financial side of the issue, but why are we putting money in front of more extensive training and experience?--Anhhung18901 03:14, 7 July 2006 (UTC) *I am an educator and I believe that teachers must be tested regarding two things: 1) knowledge of the subject(s) they teach and 2) real teaching ability. Many US teachers would pass the first and fail the second. Teaching is NOT a knowledge-based job, no matter what the NEA says. Teaching is a social interaction job, and needs to be understood that way. I have seen plenty of "stupid" people do a better job of teaching than the doctorate-level educators who cannot communicate with children. Pay is NOT the issue. Social incompetence is. 69.19.14.40 12:07, 7 July 2006 (UTC)JohnCorbin :: * I am a former high school student, and i believe that public education is less catered to learning and more catered to preparing students for middle economy. Teachers are issuing homework because they're told instead of homework that would help with retention and understanding difficult concepts. Assessment scales are built on how well you can complete the task given to you in the time alotted, not an assessment on the knowledge of the concept. public education is busier producing drones then productive members of society. :: * I am a college educator, and I believe that public schools need to stop granting funds based on standardized testing. Aside from being culturally biased, standardized tests DO NOT demonstrate anything other than how well students can memorize answers to test questions. The funds granted to schools with high performance makes the "best" schools (with students who can memorize and/or teachers who can teach students to memorize) more equipped and the "worst" schools less equipped to "succeed." Instead, schools should focus on teaching students to think critically about information, society, and themselves. This focus shift will create smarter students and a more engaged populace. In order to do this, schools need teachers who are dedicated. I meet so many "educators" who simply do not care about the children they teach. I'm not blaming teachers; I'm simply saying that our system runs most teachers so ragged that they can no longer function as educators, and the students suffer. The system needs a GIANT overhaul, and I am probably not qualified to make suggestions, but I think a good start would be to cater to the students who are present in schools NOW instead of the students who were present 60 years ago. We need tech-savvy schools, mandatory summer education programs, teaching styles that engage students (who may have short attention spans!) to learn effectively. High Schools may also benefit from a later starting time and more student-centered classrooms. If you are interested in finding out more, please see www.standup.org 75.3.157.17 14:10, 7 July 2006 (UTC) I am a soon-to-be-recent college graduate and I believe the current educational system is doomed to failure. We have created a socialized system in which teachers, regardless of pay scale or school funding, are often relegated to being little more than babysitters, or, to put it more precisely, wardens. To properly resolve the issue of declining educational quality in our country, we must address the following issues: 1) There are more children being created than there are new teachers of even marginal skill. This teacher-to-student imbalance is inevitable, only a revolution in teaching methods and a radical upswing in the social and intellectual abilities of teachers can fix this issue. 2) Teaching, as a profession, is too often seen as a 'last-resort' career for those who find they cannot excel in their chosen field. 3) Teachers are not paid enough, and the profession is held in too-low esteem to encourage the brightest and best among us to become teachers. (see 2) 4) Higher academics has become a cloistered world in which elitist, often separatist intellectuals entice the best to join their ranks, whilst handing out nearly-meaningless rubber stamps to those who choose to return to "the world". (Herman Hesse's "The Glass Bead Game" should be required reading for all college freshmen) To remedy these problems there are surely many approaches. I would suggest: 1) Create a nationally- (or even internationally) -recognized standard of analytical faculty and factual accumulation that is expected of any child by age 18. The best and most respected teachers and educators at each age level from across the world should be invited to participate in the establishment of these standards. 2) Enforce said standards (1) ruthlessly, constantly adjusting testing methods and the corpus data to include contemporary events/discoveries, as well as to maintain as closely as possible a perfect bell-curve distribution of results around a center. This distribution should be achieved without mathematical adjustment, up to and including social/ethnic/cultural "bonuses" or "penalties" for students from certain cities/regions/countries. 3) Make the entire corpus available online, for free**, in many languages. It should be text-based with ample video and graphical accompaniment 4) The corpus should teach a syncretic view of history, with science, philosophy, mathematics, and arts taught not as separate subjects, but by both region and era. The goal of this would be to give a thorough, globally-oriented, and historically accurate view of humankind's discoveries, innovations, and conflicts from the beginnings of history through to the present day. The focus would always be on giving a temporal context to the developments and activities of all regions of the world. By teaching in a syncretic, temporally-sensitive fashion, students would be given a sense of the overall progression of world history, and could see both the parallels and the imbalances in the progress of every area in the world throughout history. 5) Students would be expected to be self-taught, with guidance from their parents/caretakers/etc, as well as from organized, supervised study sessions. Students would also be welcome to seek "mentors" in the form of professors, professionals, and other experts, who would make their knowledge available via online access. This could be done for a fee, or pro-bono, as each mentor desired. (Note that this system does away almost entirely with the traditional concept of primary schooling and the teaching profession as we know it). 6) Students could progress through the fields of study at any rate they choose, and once complete, they could apply for admission to institutions of higher education. 7) Finally, the tests would be standardized, taken online, and would employ so-called "adaptive testing". As a student does better, the questions would become harder, more detail-oriented, and more heavily emphasize critical thinking skills. This would be one method used to help guarantee an accurate bell-curve-like distribution about the center. This is simply a brief outline of the most serious of the current problems I have observed from my own (admittedly priveleged) education and development, as well as my own (admittedly idealized) vision of how education should and must adapt to create a dynamic, intelligent, globalized generation of new thinkers. 24.160.171.120 22:08, 8 July 2006 (UTC)David Sabo24.160.171.120 22:08, 8 July 2006 (UTC) =References= *Digest of Education Statistics, National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education =Further Reading= *Education Commission of the States: This site includes summaries of most issues currently facing the U.S. education system. The group is non-profit and non-partisan whose membership includes the governors of 49 states and DC.